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Atlas / Library / Colubridae / Japanese Rat Snake
Colubridae

Japanese Rat Snake

Elaphe climacophora

Part of this is not on the page we cite. We opened it on 10 Aug 2026 and some of the degrees above are not stated there. The values above may still be right, but we cannot show you where they came from, and nobody here has checked them against a second source. Anything about a sick animal goes to a qualified exotic vet, not to a page. reptco.co.uk

Photograph: karliatje · CC BY

Photographed by an observer on iNaturalist and published under a Creative Commons licence; the photographer and the licence are named under the image. It is not an animal of ours, and no animal was handled by us to produce it.

14:00
Day

Drag the sun. The sheet states a night temperature, so the rail follows it.

National law is not global, and we hold no national wildlife law for any country, Thailand included. Check your own authority before buying or selling.

Check your setup against this sheet I keep one 123 plants usable with this species
Back to the globe My keep

https://keepr.pet/husbandry/en/elaphe-climacophora

‹ All husbandry guides
warm end28–29 °C
cool end24–27 °C
Humidity50–70 %

The numbers

Thermal gradient

152025303540 °C
24–27°Cool side
28–29°Warm side
18–21°Night

Day: a real gradient, 28–29°C warm against 24–27°C cool, so the animal chooses. Night: 18–21°C.

Why

Same scale on every sheet here, so two species compare by eye.

The sheet stateswarm 28-29 °C / cool 24-27 °C / night 18-21 °C

Humidity

50–70%Target RH

The sheet states50-70 % [reptichip] ; 40-60 % [reptco]

UVB

5–7%required

The sheet statesbenefique, non indispensable - indice 5-7 % [reptichip]

Enclosure
Juvenile: 24"x18"x18"; Sub Adult-Adult: 36"x18"18" minimum 48"x24"x24"
Diet
Carnivorous: Whole Prey - Rodents, Quail, Chicks, Bird eggs; hatchlings and juveniles on pinky or fuzzy mice every 5 to 7 days, sub-adults and adults larger prey every 10 to 14 days

Identity

Origin

Enclosure and conditions

Temperature
warm 28–29 °C / cool 24–27 °C / night 18–21 °C

What your climate adds

This sheet states a range to hold. Your local climate decides how much work holding it is. Pick the nearest city: nothing is sent anywhere, the choice stays in this browser.

Common questions

Is it easy to keep in Thailand?

The care is simple, but it comes from a cooler climate, so it needs good ventilation and a genuinely cool area to retreat to.

Is it good to handle?

Generally yes. Most are calm and easy once settled, though some are nervous when young and may musk.

Does it climb?

Yes, it is a capable climber. Give it height, branches and a raised hide and you will see it use all of them.

How big does it get?

Usually around one and a half metres, sometimes a bit more, with a slender build that makes it easy to handle.

What it needs

A heat sourcebecause temp — warm 28-29 °C / cool 24-27 °C / night 18-21 °C
A thermostat to regulate itbecause temp — warm 28-29 °C / cool 24-27 °C / night 18-21 °C
A thermometerbecause temp — warm 28-29 °C / cool 24-27 °C / night 18-21 °C
A way to check the night figurebecause temp — warm 28-29 °C / cool 24-27 °C / night 18-21 °C
A hygrometerbecause humidity — 50-70 % [reptichip] ; 40-60 % [reptco]
UVB 5-7%, stated as requiredbecause uvb — benefique, non indispensable - indice 5-7 % [reptichip]
Not stated: The size of the enclosurethis sheet describes the enclosure without a figure: « Juvenile: 24"x18"x18"; Sub Adult-Adult: 36"x18"18" minimum 48"x24"x24" »

Every line above is deduced from a value this sheet states, and names which one. Nothing here is a general recommendation. What the sheet does not state is listed too, rather than left out: a kit that looks complete is worse than one that names its gap.

Sources

reptichip.com — lu le 2026-08-04reptco.co.uk — lu le 2026-08-04gbif.org — lu le 2026-08-08

Others in this group

Corn SnakePantherophis guttatusWestern Hognose SnakeHeterodon nasicusCalifornia KingsnakeLampropeltis californiaeEastern Hognose SnakeHeterodon platirhinosMexican Black KingsnakeLampropeltis getula nigritaSpeckled KingsnakeLampropeltis holbrookiEastern KingsnakeLampropeltis getulaGrey-banded KingsnakeLampropeltis alterna

What this sheet states

62%
TemperatureHumidityEnclosure sizeActivityOriginDietSourcesUVB

This sheet states 4 of 7 of the fields this product runs on. What is missing turns something off: enclosure size audit, day/night engine and awake count on the globe, the diet section. We show the gap rather than fill it with a plausible number.

UVB is measured but does not count: it is absent from 421 of 678 sheets, and on most of them that is not a gap, since a nocturnal snake's sheet has no reason to state a UV index. Counting it would call the library incomplete without cause.